Lisa's Return
by JantoJones
Summary: Its all in the title.


It was Ianto's favourite part of the day; the time before everyone else arrived. Jack was in his office and it would be at least an hour before the silence was broken by the others. Ianto was cleaning the coffee machine out and was glad that Owen wasn't in to see it. He would undoubtedly have spouted some clichéd tea-boy jibe.

"Ianto."

Ianto spun around. The voice seemed to have come from directly behind him but there was no-one there. He was certain he'd felt someone's breath on the back of his neck.

"I want you with me, Ianto."

"Lisa?"

There was no mistaking her voice but how could it be her. She was dead. Her body didn't even exist anymore. Jack had decided it was too much of a risk keeping her in the Torchwood morgue and had allowed Ianto to have her cremated.

"Yes Sweetheart, it's me."

Ianto held his hand out in the direction of the voice and it met with resistance. There was definitely something standing in front of him. By squinting, he could just about make out a humanoid shape. Before he could make any sort of sense of it, Ianto was suddenly picked up and pushed over the gantry rail. His flailing hands somehow managed to find the edge of the gantry.

"Jack!" he yelled hysterically. "Help!"

Jack shot out of his office with a pen still in his hand. The pen was quickly flung aside when he saw Ianto dangling from the gantry. The captain was up the stairs in a flash and, kneeling down, helped Ianto to get a better purchase on the gantry and rail. He stood back up and helped the stricken man to safety.

"What happened?"

"It was... Lisa," replied the younger man.

To Ianto's surprise and gratitude, Jack didn't dismiss the statement. He had seen too much in his long lifetime to think anything impossible. The Captain led Ianto to his office and poured him a brandy.

"It's seven in the morning Sir," Ianto pointed out, glancing at his watch.

"Mitigating circumstances."

A little gentle probing was all that was needed for Jack to get the whole story. What he heard made him very uneasy. He wanted to disregard Ianto's words as fantasy but knew the other man wouldn't bring up Lisa's name lightly. Ianto was also not the attention-seeking type.

"We'll get Tosh to check the CCTV when she gets in."

He put his hand on Ianto's shoulder to reassure him and realised he was shivering. Jack picked up the phone to call Owen and ask him to get to the hub ASAP.

Half an hour later, Ianto was sleeping on the sofa, having been sedated. He hadn't even protested against it, which indicated his level of shock. Jack had also called Tosh in early to get her working on the security footage. Every now and then, she glanced back at Ianto, as if to make sure he was still there.

"She wants him to be with her?" Owen queried.

Jack nodded. "So it seems."

"Did you see her?" The medic asked. He was decidedly concerned by this turn of events.

"No," Jack told him. "But I doubt it's something Ianto would make up for a laugh."

"I have something."

The two men turned their attention to Toshiko's monitor. She had filtered and enhanced the images from the CCTV and it did indeed reveal Lisa. It wasn't a solid image of her but she was definable.

"How is that possible?" Tosh asked, clearly shocked at what she was seeing. They all watched as Ianto was pushed over the rail. As soon as Ianto had shouted for Jack, Lisa faded. Jack wished he could give Tosh an answer but didn't have a clue. He was willing to accept the possibility of ghosts but Lisa had physically thrown Ianto. She was corporeal.

"She could be a poltergeist," offered Owen. "They're supposed to be the physical manifestations of psychic energy."

"True," Jack agreed. "They don't generally take shape though. Especially not that of a half-converted Cyberman."

Ianto stirred on the sofa and they all watched intently, waiting for him to settle down again.

"One thing is for certain," Jack told them quietly. "Someone stays with him at all times."

"Okay, plan of action," announced Jack. "Owen, do all the tests you can to rule out anything medical. Tosh, see if you can trace anything in the hub which could be considered unusual, especially for us. Also, search the CCTV archives to see if Lisa has shown up anywhere else. Get Gwen to help when she arrives. I'll stick with Ianto."

Tosh and Owen set about their respective tasks. Owen took blood samples and utilised the Bekaran deep tissue scanner. Whilst Owen was scanning, Jack fetched some files from his office. He sat himself on the floor in front of the coffee table. The rational part of him knew that he didn't need to be so close. Especially since Tosh was at her workstation and Owen was a few feet away in the autopsy room. The irrational part though could only think of how dangerous Lisa could be.

Ianto didn't wake until well after Gwen arrived. When he did wake up, he did so yelling.

"No! You're gone!"

"Woah," Jack was on his feet instantly, grabbing Ianto' wrists and holding him still. "Calm down, Yan. It's okay."

Ianto sat up and glared around him with acute embarrassment. Showing himself to be vulnerable was something he rarely did in front of everyone. He marshalled his emotions and adopted his usual demeanour. Jack hated it when he did that. It made it much harder to help him. It was as though Ianto was denying his humanity.

"Were you dreaming about Lisa?"

"Yes," the Welshman confirmed. "She kept telling me we belong together."  
Jack treated Ianto to one of his best heartening smiles then resumed his serious air. He brought him up to speed on what everyone was doing, after first getting Owen to check him over.

"So, you're my bodyguard then?" asked Ianto, with false coyness.

"Absolutely, but don't go getting used to it."

As much as Ianto liked Captain Jack Harkness, he wasn't sure how long he would be able to put up with him as his shadow.

The next few hours passed quietly. Luckily for everyone, there were no alien emergencies to contend with. Ianto had been less than happy when Jack followed him into the toilet, though. The captain was, however, courteous enough to remain outside the cubicle, although he'd insisted that the door was left unlocked. On returning to the main hub area, they were presented with Owen's findings. He'd come up with absolutely nothing. Tosh and Gwen had had a little more success. They'd discovered that Lisa had appeared on four earlier occasions over the week, increasing in strength each time. There'd also been a slight electro-magnetic surge prior to each manifestation. In anticipation of Jack's order, Tosh had set up monitors and alarms to alert them to any more EM surges. By 6 o' clock, there had still been no reappearance. Owen put it down to there being too many people around. Jack decided to send everybody home, apart from Ianto. He wanted him to stay at the hub.

"I don't really relish the idea of staying here tonight Jack," protested Ianto. "I'm going home, but I wouldn't mind if you insisted on coming with me."

Jack grinned wantonly.

"And you can forget that Sir. " Ianto chided. "After this morning, I'm not really in the right mood.

*******************************************

Ianto unlocked his front door and invited Jack to step in first. This was only Jack's third visit to the flat and it almost felt like treading somewhere sacred. As always, when there was just the two of them, Ianto had relaxed and dropped his guard. With Lisa's arrival, Jack had been expecting the younger man to shun him, but it didn't seem to be the case. In fact, after Ianto had poured them both a drink, he sat close to Jack on the sofa. Jack was beginning to worry how all this would affect their relationship. It had taken Ianto a long time to forgive Jack and it had taken Jack a long time to trust Ianto.

"Okay," Jack prompted. "Talk to me."

"I don't know what to think Jack. I loved her so much but I lost her a Canary Wharf. The Lisa you killed wasn't really her."

Jack winced at the statement but there had been no malice in Ianto's voice.

"I've more or less come to terms with it," the younger man continued. "If I hadn't, we wouldn't have what we have."

He smile warmly at Jack, trying to reassure the captain that the situation hadn't changed anything between them.

"I need a shower," Ianto suddenly declared. "Feel free to come and sit on the toilet lid and watch."

Jack would have preferred to help, but understood Ianto's unwillingness.

Watching Ianto in the shower was pure torture for Jack, though he'd grown used to the Welshman keeping him waiting. They were soon back on the sofa, whiskey in hand, watching the television.

"How do we stop her Jack?"

Jack was surprised by Ianto's tone. He'd made the question sound like an ordinary investigation query, as though he wasn't personally connected to it. He'd half expected him to call him Sir. It was probably his coping mechanism, Jack reasoned. Maybe it was easier to deal with it if he distanced himself. Unbeknownst to Jack, Ianto was terrified. He'd worked hard to regain the trust and respect of his colleagues and he figured that this would remind them of his guilt. The whole thing was his fault after all.

"I have no idea Yan," The captain told him . "We need to first work out how she came back."

They sat in thoughtful silence for a while, staring at the television. Ianto was the first to speak.

"I would imagine it's safe to assume that something we're holding at Torchwood has something to do with it."

Jack nodded. "Almost certainly." he agreed. But, we're holding a lot of stuff. It has to be something which has arrived in the last couple of weeks."

Ianto cast his mind back to all the items he'd catalogued in the last fortnight.

"We've received eleven items in that time," he said. "Eight have been identified..."

"...Leaving three which haven't been figured out." Jack finished. "Can you tell me what they look like?"

"I can do better than that."

Within minutes, Ianto had his laptop set up.

"All three came from eBay. I was going to show you them today for your opinion."

"But something else cropped up." said Jack, wryly.

Ianto smiled as he brought up the images of the unidentified objects. Jack's demeanour instantly changed.

"It's that one," he said, pointing to a large cube-shaped item. "It can bring back those who have been murdered."

"Like the Resurrection Gauntlet?"

"Worse."

Jack stood up and put his coat on.

"Get your shoes back on Ianto, we have to get back to the hub."

During the short journey, Jack explained about the cube. It had been designed to bring back those who had died by another's hand, to allow them to live their natural term. Unfortunately, it hadn't been thought through properly. When it was activated it resurrected without restraint. People who'd been killed in self-defence were also brought back, leaving society with several would-be murderers on their hands.

"If she's coming back," pondered Ianto. "Why does she want me to join her in death?"

"With all due respect Yan, she was hardly in her right mind."

Ianto couldn't disagree. She had even wanted to put both their brains in one body. Hardly the height of sanity.

"It has to be switched on to work though," muttered Jack. "Did you press anything?"

"I know better than that Jack." Ianto defended. "However, Owen was messing about before I took it from him."

"What's it gonna take to stop him doing that?"

The hub was silent when the two men entered. Motion sensors picked up their presence and switched the lights on for them. Jack was on total alert, with his trusty Webley already in his hand. Ianto went to retrieve a gun from the weapons locker. He'd just re-joined Jack when Tosh's alarms burst into life. Lisa was coming. She faded into semi-transparency behind Jack. Ianto tried to warn him but wasn't quick enough. Lisa put her hand on Jack's shoulder and electrocuted him. His body jerked as electricity coursed through his nervous system. She let go and Jack dropped to the floor with a sickening thud. He was clearly dead. Ianto wasn't concerned though. He knew the Captain would revive again. Ianto's immediate worry was that Lisa had turned her attention to him.

He raised his gun and tried not to notice how much his hand was shaking.

"You won't be needing that Ianto," Lisa admonished sweetly.

She fired an energy charge at his gun hand. Ianto yelled out in shock and pain, dropping the weapon unceremoniously. Clutching his hurting arm to his chest, he slowly backed off.

"Don't you love me anymore Ianto?"

He shook his head. "No, I love the woman you used to be before the Cybermen took you. She's gone now."

"Is there someone else?" Her eyes pleaded with him to say no.

"Yes." Ianto hadn't meant to give away who it was, but his involuntary glance at Jack told her all she needed to know.

"So you're gay now?" She practically spat the question.

"If anything, I'm bisexual." Ianto told her. "But, if there's one thing Jack has taught me, it's that sexuality shouldn't be labelled."

"You seem to have forgotten that your new lover murdered me!"

"No. you died at Canary Wharf. Jack killed a monster."

Lisa ran at Ianto, pushing him to the floor. She straddled over him and held him down by placing her hand on his chest. It was all Ianto could do not to panic. With an amazing amount of will power, he managed to control his breathing.

"I love you, Ianto."

The words caused Ianto's blood to freeze in his veins. A few years ago, those words had the power to lift his heart, now they made him feel physically sick.

"I don't love you." he whispered. "You're gone. In fact, you've died twice. I intend to make it three times."

A jolt of electricity flowed through him. Not enough to kill but more than enough to cause a great amount of pain. Ianto screamed and struggled to free himself. His efforts only served to earn him another painful shock.

"Don't fight Sweetheart," Lisa soothed. "We'll be so much happier together if you just accept it."

"Lisa, I'm sorry, but there's nothing to accept."

Ianto was struggling emotionally as well as physically. He desperately wanted to pull Lisa into his arms and hold her forever, but he knew it was impossible. For all he missed her, Ianto had spent a long time working through his grief. With Jack's help he had come to terms with losing her. Not fully though. That would never happen. He'd finally come to understand that even though the process hadn't been completed, she had become a Cyberman. There was no way of reversing it. The woman he had loved above all else had been taken from him. He understood and accepted that now.

He braced himself for another jolt of energy but it never came.

"Hey!" Jack yelled, as he climbed to his feet.

Lisa span around, raising her arm to fire at him. Ianto didn't hesitate to lunge for his gun. He took aim and fired five rounds at her. Despite the fact she was still semi-transparent, she was solid enough for the bullets to find their mark. She gave Ianto a look of heart-wrenching surprise. As though she couldn't believe he'd done it. Ianto hadn't even thought about it. It was all down to pure instinct. Lisa began to scream, but it was cut short as she faded from existence.

Ianto pulled himself into a sitting position and hugged his knees as he stared cry. He finally let his emotions loose and found he couldn't stop the tears. Jack silently sat himself beside Ianto and gently held him as sobs wracked the younger man's body. They stayed there until Ianto cried himself out. When he'd finished, Jack guided him to his own bed and ordered him to go to sleep, with the promise that they would talk things trough in the morning. Jack left Ianto to fall asleep as he went to delete the CCTV records of the night's events.

The End


End file.
